Iranian army says its military doctrine shifting from 'defensive to offensive'

The Iranian army said Saturday that its military doctrine is shifting from a “defensive to an offensive” posture, citing lessons from the country’s recent wars.

Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, spokesman for the Iranian army, told state news agency IRNA that the shift had gradually taken place during what he described as the 12-day and 40-day wars.

“Our country’s military doctrine was defensive in the past, but gradually during these two wars, we witnessed the military doctrine moving from a defensive posture toward an offensive one,” Akraminia said.

He stressed that an offensive doctrine does not necessarily mean conducting preemptive operations, but said Iran had adopted such an approach at one point during the war by striking a US base in Jordan before the US entered the conflict.

Akraminia claimed the attack inflicted “serious damage” on US equipment, facilities and personnel.

He said other elements of the offensive doctrine include immediately responding to any attack, with Iran’s response potentially being broader than the initial action.

According to Akraminia, the shift from a fully defensive to an offensive doctrine was demonstrated during the war through rapid and broader responses to attacks as well as preemptive operations.

Bounty for killing US troops

Akraminia said the army had devised a plan offering rewards for killing or capturing US troops in the event of a ground incursion into Iranian territory.

Under the plan, members of the armed forces or civilians legally possessing hunting weapons would receive 5 billion tomans (about $26,000) for killing or capturing US troops entering Iran, he said.

The reward would be doubled to 10 billion tomans (about $53,000) if the action were carried out by a woman, Akraminia added.

He said the army would also purchase the weapon used for twice its value, preserve it in a military museum under the owner’s name and provide the individual with a similar replacement weapon.

Akraminia said the recent merger of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters with the General Staff of the Armed Forces was aimed at making Iran’s armed forces more agile, ensuring greater unity and enabling faster decision-making and responses to threats.

He said the merger would improve unity of command, coordination among the armed forces and the speed of responses to threats.

Akraminia said Iran is pursuing through legal and diplomatic channels the status of three Iranian army Su-24 pilots, which he said Qatar has yet to clarify.

He said one of four pilots who took part in an attack on a US base in Qatar, Brig. Gen. Majid Kazemi, was killed and later buried in the Iranian city of Shiraz, while the status of the other three remains unclear.

The spokesman said the issue was being pursued through Iran’s Foreign Ministry and army with Qatari and international parties, urging Qatar to clarify the pilots’ status in accordance with international conventions.

Akraminia also claimed that US influence in the region had declined sharply, pointing to what he described as a defense and security mechanism established by Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan independently of Washington.

He said that regardless of its future effectiveness, the mechanism demonstrated what he called the decline of the US position in the region and described it as the first regional defense and security mechanism without US participation.